Have any Car Repairs

I wanted to share my view on any car repairs you will ever have. I have had a few in the past and I want to pass on this information on how to save money when you come to a point when your car needs to be repaired in any way.



If you know what is wrong then all the better because it will help you out, but most likely you will not know what the problem with your car is. First you need to call around and tell them that your car needs to be looked at and when they can look at it. Some require an appointment. Next ask what is the price to get it looked at. This can range anywhere from $40 - $90. Most call it a diagnostic fee. Most car repair centers have specialized computers that run your car through a diagnostic test and it reports what is wrong. They like to tell you that once they find out the final price to fix your car then this fee is not applied. So take your car to the place you found and the car repair shop will then call you later with a quote on what it will take with parts and labor to fix the car. They will give you just one price. Then you need to ask for the breakdown of the quote including all part numbers and costs for each, labor time and labor costs of each and write it down. Before moving on, you need to know where the price point is. If it is less than $150-$300 you probably just need to say fix it to the car place. This can be iffy sometimes because you might be able to still repair cheaper but it might cost you the same. Also this only works if you are willing to wait for your car to get fixed longer then what the car place will quote you.

The next step is the most critical. You need to ask the car place if they can wait and see if you can find some of those parts yourself instead. (This is tricky, because they could always charge you for delays or holding fees so make sure you ask if it is okay to try to find some parts yourself if it takes a couple of days to a week). They usually tend to work with you. They like to see if you can find cheaper prices. Car places might even match the prices you can find. REMEMBER TO ASK again to see if they will charge you anything else while you try to get parts. If they do try to charge you for any holding fees then you need to do your best to get your car back or out of there as quickly as possible and just pay for the diagnostic fee. The main part was just to get a quote on what parts and labor was needed. Last step is try to find the parts yourself and get the labor done yourself or get the best price for the labor too.

For example, I got a quote for only 1 part I need on my last car problem. The part itself was going to cost me $338 through the car place. I found it on the internet for $55. I had the car place install it for me though. I had to pay for the diagnostic fee even though they said it would get applied to whatever they do, but it still saved me over $200. So they charge a lot for all parts and liquids. Even try to get any Coolant, oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid from walmart or a local car sales store. Again they were trying to charge me $28 for coolant and I got it instead for $9 at walmart for the amount they needed. Labor work is approx $70-$100/hour for any work done. So getting your car repair manual would save a lot of money if you have tools. Some things you can repair yourself. Again the toughest part is just to find out what is wrong.

Hopefully this will be helpful to you for the future.

Almonds

Just wanted to say that I am obsessed with Almonds. It can only be the plain non-salted ones. I don't like them in any chocolate. It is the main gift I wanted for Valentines day and that's what I got! They are actually very good for you too. Yes, I know that is an interesting snack, but I like it better than all candy.

PBS show on "The Mormons"

Today was my day off like usual each week and it was nice to relax. My kids watch some of PBS shows and during the weekend I saw that a show called "The Mormons" was coming on later on PBS. I decided to go ahead and Tivo it to watch it later. It was 2 hours long and I watched it today. It started okay with the early history, but after only 5 minutes they already were badmouthing the church. I found out that it was Part 1 of 2 in this 2 hours. The main people that they had on the documentary it seemed were Historians and people not in the church. If you look up the program on http://www.pbs.org/mormons/ it actually lists some people and they have more nonmembers or excommunicated members than members commenting. And when the members did comment it was short, while the excommunicated and nonmembers were given more time. It was apparent that they were trying to focus on the outskirts and contriversal issues than on what the people and truths were. Polygamy seemed to be the focus for 45 minutes of the 2 hour show. Also the Mountain Meadows Massacre filled another at least 15 minutes of the show. I was very disappointed in the show. You can watch it online on the link I have provided. I haven't seen Part 2 yet, but probably will soon.

IRAQ

My brother Kevin has passed along an interesting article that an LDS person has written about the conflict in iraq. It can be found at: http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/ashton2.html.

It has some interesting points and some truths so why does (I think) most LDS people support the U.S. still in Iraq including me? I wanted to share my view and what I am thinking. Again, this is only my view.

First this article starts talking about the Book of Mormon's views on war and when it should be used for from Alma 43:47 and 48:14. Which I totally agree that you should go to war to only defend your land, country, liberty, rights, religion, and lives including family. Also sometimes to help others to defend their land, country, liberty, rights, religion and lives. The Book of Mormon shares the doctrines of the kingdom. It was not meant to be historical and teach about every little thing not doctrinal. I think Alma probably wrote more about this war and what the Nephites did after and before each battle and war and why, but that is not the purpose of the Book of Mormon. It's main purpose is to convince everyone to come unto Christ. So what was the specific details that went on after each battle or war we do not know, which I think the author tries to specify or assume too much like saying that it was the policy of Captain Moroni of letting the lamanites sort out their own government affairs. Does the author really think we are aggressively slaughtering the people there in iraq instead of trying to defend ourselves and other iraqis?

I also didn't like how this person interpreted Captain Moroni's after war moves. I don't know the exact things Captain Moroni did after he won his battles but why could he not help the lamanites. He prepared the Nephite lands against further attack but, why couldn't he do that also by sending missionaries or teaching the lamanites. Maybe even teaching them laws and principles including government principles including maybe democracy. Where does it say that we can't stay in those lands that we make "instable" to help the people, even to help defend them. Maybe they can even ask for help, like many countries have in the past. So we try to do our best to do what we can. Right? Even using the Spirit and revelation as our guide.

Now back to the principle that war should be used to defend your country, liberty, rights, religion, and lives. The main question that this doesn't answer is at what costs do you defend your country, liberty, rights, religion, and lives. After we were attacked by Al-Qeida on 9/11 what were we to do to defend ourselves? Wait and defend just the U.S. only or go invade and attack Afganistan's taliban? Even though Al-Qeida is not a country? After we got attacked by Japan in WW2, what were we to do to defend ourselves? Get back our lands and just defend or invade Japan lands? Even drop the Atom Bomb? What defending did we do with Vietnam and Korea? I think each war or conflict there can be an assumption made about defending something of those things we should. It doesn't mean that those assumptions are right or wrong, but something I know will be that the people in charge will be held accountable to our Heavenly Father for those actions if they were right or wrong. I wish there could always be Peace, but I know that in this earth life that cannot be the case.

So, going back to the main question about why I still believe we need to be in Iraq is because the people are needing our help to DEFEND themselves and their new country, rights, religion, and lives. I liken it to the Nephites and Ammon who helped the people of Anti-Levi-Nephi defend themselves. Alma 27: 1-12, 23-24. After the lamanites were destroying the people of Anti-Levi-Nephi, the Nephites helped in defending them. So should people take action to defending others sometimes? YES! I even think some will be held liable for not taking any action when some people need defending. The author of the article keeps saying that even if we were defending ourselves at the start of Iraq, then that authority (Saddam Hussein) is no longer there and we aren't defending anymore. Tell that to the people still getting directly attaked by the militants, or trying to take away their rights. The question that I ask is that are we still helping Iraq defend itself? So the question is when does it change away from defending?

February is here already?

February is already here. It is amazing at how fast time goes faster when you get older. Tanner had his surgery and went well to untie his lip and was fine right after. Carie turned 30 this past week as well. We went out to eat at Olive Garden, Our best place to eat! and rented a movie to watch. Elizabeth, the golden age. Kindof disappointing movie, I don't recommend it. We also rented a movie for Tanner called, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." He is obsessed with this one movie that has 4 episodes on it. I remember watching it when I was little and it was pretty cool. Now I can't stand it. lol. Carie has told me that she is going to buy a new TMNT DVD for his birthday next month. Lindsey has been getting into trouble more and more, but she is too cute to be mad at for too long. She has been testing the boundries. I guess we are in the Terrible two's. Tanner was not bad at all until three, but girls go through things earlier and hopefully faster than boys.